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Skidaway bridge: Untimely surprise

WORD THAT work on the new bridge to Skidaway Island has been halted because of an apparent disagreement between the state and the builder is disheartening.

Thousands of motorists who regularly go to and from the island have been counting down the days when the $22.5 million, high-span bridge would be open over the Intracoastal Waterway.

Now, it’s unclear when that’s going to happen.

Construction stopped about a month ago when it was discovered that some girders put in place did not match the elevations called for in the original design, said Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson Jill Nagel.

That’s a bit of a shock. Isn’t the specified elevation of a new bridge pretty basic stuff?

The contractor, United Contractors, is currently working on proposals to correct the issue. There’s no word when work will resume.

Constructing bridges, especially on the scale of one to Skidaway Island, is a tedious matter. All precautions must be taken to ensure the stability and usability of the bridge, which is designed to last decades.

So did someone goof? If so, who’s going to pay for any fixes and how long will it take?

Those answers are unclear at this point. It’s a fair bet that lawyers for the DOT and United Contractor are looking at the fine print in their agreement.

Meanwhile, there’s minimal debate over the necessity of the new bridge. The current Diamond Causeway drawbridge is 40 years old, making repairs difficult and costly. Parts are harder to acquire with each passing year. Then the 10,000 or so residents of Skidaway Island need a dependable route on and off the island during hurricanes or other emergencies, as this one bridge is the only escape route.

Neither the state DOT nor United Contractors are saying much. However, Bill Merz, a member of the Landings Association Bridge Committee, wrote on the The Landings Association website in September that DOT engineers and United Contractors’ engineers disagree on the amount the bridge will sag when the concrete deck is added.

“Even though concrete beams seem rigid, they still deflect under heavy loads, and the weight of the concrete deck will indeed be a heavy load,” Mr. Merz wrote. He added that predicting the exact amount of movement “is a very complicated engineering computation, one that must be agreed upon by all parties before deck concrete can be placed.”

It’s the DOT’s responsibility to make sure the public gets what it paid for. If that means putting construction on temporary hold, so be it. Getting it right is better than getting it done in a rush.